THE HALF DECENT FOOTBALL MAGAZINE

Newcastle's long and slow decline

Tuesday 26 May ~

Mike Ashley is an easy target for Newcastle fans but as our editorial in WSC 212 (October 2004) highlighted, the club has been badly run for years. And at the time Bill Kenwright was under pressure at Everton – a cautionary tale of short-term panic versus long-term planning as the Toffees look towards Saturday's Cup final on the back of second successive fifth-place finish

Anyone who has looked at football internet message boards will know the form by now. Alongside the well in­­formed contributors, there are always a few who offer only irate bluster and bombast, often expressed in capital letters. Unfortunately for Newcastle United supporters, one such person appears to be in charge of their club.

Freddy Shepherd (“You know who we want to buy – that Kloovert”) didn’t exactly cover himself in glory during the summer when he announced to the press that Sir Bobby Robson would be departing at the end of the season, before Sir Bobby himself had been given the news. Subsequent wheeler-dealing in the transfer market, of which his manager appeared to know very little, will not have boosted Freddie’s standing around St James’ Park. And now the coup de grace, with Sir Bobby sacked four games into the season, essentially because a referee didn’t think that Craig Bellamy was heading goalwards when dispossessed by Thomas Sorensen’s hand at Villa Park on August 28; a Newcastle team with Alan Shearer demoted to substitute lost the match and Sir Bobby was gone – an honourable man deprived of a dignified exit from football.

Of course, the Newcastle board may simply have been waiting for the first defeat as a convenient excuse to make a change, but why wait until after the season had started, especially given that they don’t seem to have a replacement lined up? Gérard Houllier was quickly installed as 7/4 favourite, but insisted that he knew nothing about it – and this may be true given Shepherd’s assertion earlier in the year that the next manager “would be a Geordie”, which seems to narrow the field rather. (If this bloodline rule had been in place earlier, some would say that Sir Bobby himself wouldn’t have qualified as he’s from Langley Park, a long way from Tyneside.)

However, the obvious candidate, Steve Bruce, will cost at least £5 million to prise away from Birmingham and it seems unlikely that Shearer would be placed in sole charge straight away. “In this business there is no room for sentiment,” said Shepherd. Nor, he might have added, for any sort of coherent plan­ning.

One group of people who should be appreciative of Shepherd at the moment is Everton fans. Without Newcastle’s surprise appearance as bidders for Wayne Rooney (their confidence bolstered, it appears, by the fact that Shepherd’s son, Kenny, does some work for Rooney’s agents), Manchester United would have had the field to themselves and therefore have paid a lot less than the £25m they finally parted with. In fact, after the deal, Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that had Newcastle not started bidding and Everton started negotiating, he would have waited for some future transfer window before making a move.

Everton might not have had time to spend any of the proceeds but they have at least forestalled any prospect of coming under pressure from their creditors – Leeds and others will know what sort of effect that can have on team morale. However, Shepherd’s counterpart, Bill Kenwright, has come under a blizzard of criticism lately (some of it from within the boardroom) and now faces what seems likely to be a hostile EGM in early September. As mentioned in WSC 211, a “Kenwright Out” campaign began during the close season; members of the Ever­ton Shareholders’ Association have since accused him of making the worst misjudgement in the club’s history and insist that he will be forever known as “the man who sold Wayne Rooney”.

It is fair to say that Kenwright has not been the most dynamic of chairmen over the past few years as the club has sunk further into bottom-half mediocrity. It might also be argued that the right time to look for investment to reduce the club’s considerable debts (which have now led to an rather odd alliance with a Brunei-based investment fund connected to the influential agent, Jerome Anderson) was the summer of 2003, when Everton just missed out on a UEFA Cup place.

But it still seems absurd that Kenwright should be singled out, in some sections of the press as well as among a vocal minority of Everton supporters, for not doing more to hold on to Rooney. Having stalled on signing a new contract since Euro 2004, the player’s advisors waited until three days before the transfer window closed before formally requesting a move (and that only happened after what seems to have been a stormy meeting with David Moyes). Rooney may have been Everton’s best player of modern times, but if he doesn’t want to stay at the club then Kenwright and his board are entitled to look for a buyer now, especially given that the alternative was losing him for nothing later.

Everton have endured turbulent times since their last championship-winning team in the late 1980s, but they are among the 18 clubs to have won the League since Newcastle United last did, in 1927. With a man of the calibre of Freddy Shepherd at the helm, that run is likely to go on for a while yet.

Comments (5)

Comment by jackofalltrades 2009-05-26 17:16:01

“In this business there is no room for sentiment”

As a Newcastle fan, I did feel pretty bad that Newcastle had 'deprived an honourable man of a dignified exit' by sacking Sir Bobby, but at the same time, putting aside the 'Irish mentor' debacle, it was interesting that no-one actually offered Sir Bobby another position anywhere.

Although the 'real' reason for his exit was hinted and guessed at in the press, perhaps the one thing Newcastle did do to preserve his dignity was to not actually come out and say exactly why Sir Bobby had to go.

I can't help thinking of a radio documentary taped at the Newcastle training ground around that time - everyone was joshing around, with a bit of banter flying around and the commentator said to Shola Ameobi "Come on Shola, what's your nickname then?". "Haven't got one" he replied. "Well what does Sir Bobby call you?" he was asked - "Carl Cort" he replied....

Comment by Max Payne 2009-05-27 05:46:51

I always referred to Shola Ameobi as Shiela Amoeba.....

Comment by jackofalltrades 2009-05-27 08:17:33

Ameobi's speed is deceptive - he's slower than you think...

Comment by onedeadbudgie 2009-05-27 12:32:50

I think NUFC fans might welcome a manager who could keep them in the top 6 for 3 years even if he forgot the names of some of his players. 12 months ago Ameobi was courted by Ipswich Town. We were going to pay a multimillion pound fee - and no doubt generous wages - despite his dodgy record both injury and performance wise. Shola did not fancy it. Although we did not score enough goals last season it seems like a lucky escape.

Comment by jackofalltrades 2009-05-27 18:34:02

Newcastle did indeed welcome Sir Bobby and the experience and ability he brought with him and rest assured he has full 'hero' status at SJP, something Freddie Shepherd seems to think he has too - he doesn't.